Daniel Fast Day 3

Here's the menu from today:

Breakfast

natural peanut butter and bananas on Ezekiel bread

unsweetened soy milk

Snack

2 rice cakes with peanut butter and honey

Lunch (Rotelli's)

cup of 15 bean soup

peppers stuffed with brown rice, yellow raisins, onions, celery, and TOFU (what?!)

an extra side of brown rice (cause I still wasn't full)

Dinner

stir-fry veggies (broccoli, sugar snap peas, green beans, onions, tomatoes, red peppers, squash, carrots) with brown rice, seasoned with sea salt, curry, and thyme

Today's food has been pretty good. For those of you who don't know about Rotelli's, the owner goes to our church and was there the day that Pastor Rick called us to the fast. So he decided to offer a Daniel Fast Menu of about 7 or 8 items for members of our church! WOOO! It was so nice to go and have a meal already prepared for me.

This morning when I got to church, I was really dragging. I felt discouraged, hungry, and was just in an overall bad mood. But being around other people who are going through the same thing really helped me to change my outlook. I talked with friends who had a positive attitude, and it was contagious! God used that to remind me of the power of community. We weren't meant to live life and go through struggles alone. I am constantly worried that people don't want to hear about my difficulties or problems, but God created us to share each other's burdens. And just the simple act of having a cheerful attitude can help someone who is facing a hard time.

Also, I heard something very enlightening this morning during Rick's sermon. It's a quote from Richard Foster:

"More than any other discipline, fasting reveals the things that control us....We cover up what is inside us with food and other good things, but in fasting these things surface...Anger, bitterness, strife, fear - if they are within us, they will surface during fasting. At first, we will rationalize that our anger is due to hunger, then we know that we are angry because the spirit of anger is within us."

Whoa. Talk about a smack to the head. It's so crazy what is surfacing in my heart during this fast...pride, anger, selfishness, laziness, negativity. And it's only Day 3!